Sound Island Is A Plum Worth Saving

For the second time in as many years, federal lawmakers from Connecticut and New York are petitioning Congress to repeal a 2008 mandate to sell Plum Island in Long Island Sound, a unique habitat that should be preserved and turned into a wildlife sanctuary.

They failed in their efforts to cancel the sale mandate last year. May the Connecticut and New York members of Congress succeed this time.

The 843-acre Plum Island, resting to the east of Orient Point and 10 miles from Connecticut's shoreline, is far too remarkable a natural wonder to sell for development, as is now the federal government's plan.

For decades, a portion of its land has been the site of the Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center and its secretive experiments. But the laboratory — a vast enterprise — is being moved to Kansas. Congress ordered the island's sale to help pay for the new lab in Kansas.

Instead, the old lab portion of Plum Island should be leased for research and educational pursuits and the rest used for its ideal purpose — as a sanctuary for rare and endangered birds and plants and as a playground for seals.

What a complement a national refuge would be for ongoing efforts to conserve Long Island Sound.